Catamaran and charter yacht collide in Split Channel, three dead

The Split Channel collision is already reshaping how skippers read the Brač-Split corridor: tighter lookouts, more disciplined AIS checks, conservative speed and less room for casual seamanship in the Split Gates. Three people died after a passenger catamaran and a foreign-flagged charter yacht met in one of the Adriatic’s busiest passages, and the review now has to answer how two vessels sharing summer traffic ended up on the same track.

The collision happened on June 14 in the Split Channel between Brač and Šolta, in the narrow Splitska vrata passage that links Split with the open Adriatic. The Port Authority in Split received the report at 11:34, shortly after the accident, and MRCC Rijeka coordinated the search and rescue response. Helicopter crews, rescue vessels and nearby mariners joined the effort as the passenger catamaran continued to be treated as a regular-route vessel moving through a corridor that also carries merchant traffic and smaller yachts.

The Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure said the catamaran had 118 passengers and crew on board. The charter yacht carried eight foreign nationals. Officials have also said the yacht was under engine power at the time, a detail that will matter as investigators reconstruct navigation, lookout and right-of-way decisions in a stretch of water where fast catamaran services to Hvar, Brač and Vis share the lane with private sailboats and charter traffic.

The human toll widened over the next day. Initial reports said one person was missing after the collision, and later reporting said the body of the fourth victim was recovered on June 15, raising the death toll to four. AFP-bylined coverage said at least three Czech citizens were among the dead, the Czech consul was on site, and Czech officials offered condolences to the victims’ families. Other reports said three injured Czech nationals suffered minor injuries, while one remained hospitalized with serious spinal injuries. No one aboard the catamaran was injured.

The Croatian Agency for the Investigation of Accidents in Air, Sea and Rail Transport has opened a safety investigation and is sharing information with authorities in France and the Czech Republic. Its mandate is to determine causes and issue safety recommendations, not assign blame or criminal liability. One report said the yacht sank to about 50 to 60 metres, and the Croatian Navy coast guard drone was due to inspect the wreck as the search continued.

In a passage as tight and busy as Split Gates, the season now opens with a harder standard for every crossing. The next route plan, lookout brief and speed check will be measured against the same question raised off Brač and Šolta: who saw whom first, and who still had room to give way.